Walking and Talking!

We can't help ourselves - had to post another video of Virginia showing off her walking skills. This one isn't as action packed as the other one, but it is much funnier, because Virginia "talked" through the whole thing in this bizarrely loud voice.

Wormy Walks

Here's the video evidence - Virginia has become a walker!

Happy Birthday, Virginia!

Our little Wormy is growing up! We celebrated her first birthday today and can't believe how fast the time has gone.

For the big day, we took Virginia to Franklin Park for a picnic. It was a bit cold and started drizzling, so we abandoned ship after about 30 minutes. But Virginia loved checking out her balloons, eating strawberries and Funyuns(!), and holding court at the picnic table (decorated in a very elegant Winnie the Pooh tablecloth).

After the park, we headed back to our house with Grammy, Poppy and Marcia Argyris (who shares Virginia's birthday). Virginia chowed down on cheese - her favorite food, more strawberries, and a little bit of hamburger. She opened her presents and got quite a lot of loot thanks to many loving friends and family members. She got a bunny blanket and Mega Blocks from Memaw and PaPa, a baby doll from Grammy, an Ernie doll from Poppy, a lion walker from Great Gram, a Hawaiian dress from the David Macks, and the Velveteen Rabbit from the John Macks. She's loving it all! We are going to have to dole out the new toys gradually to get maximum benefit.

To end the evening, Virginia decided that it was time to show us that she could walk! She has taken a couple of steps before, but has been keeping her skills under wraps for the past few weeks. But right before bedtime, she took some more steps after letting go of the couch. We were so thrilled! It was almost as if she knew that it was her birthday and she had to show off. So it was a very successful and fun-filled birthday.

Stand and Deliver

Over the past few weeks, our little Worm has learned to stand on her own! She began by gradually letting go and balancing a few seconds to full-blown standing for a minute or more. Getting a photo of the feat proved pretty difficult... she usually sees something across the room that she wants and leans over to crawl towards it before we can grab the camera.

And even more news - we're officially calling Monday, March 8 as Virginia's first steps! She managed to string together two mini-steps before falling over. It wasn't very graceful or glorious, but we are counting it nonetheless. Thomas and I both witnessed it - but she hasn't replicated it since. We think she is still a few weeks from real walking, but she's definitely making some progress.